What If
by lovely-psychosis
Summary: We know that Lily's sacrifice saved Harry that night in Godric's Hollow. But what if two people survived that night?
1. Chapter 1

**October, 31, 1981**

It was a windy Halloween at Godric's Hollow. The kids asking for trick-or-treats had long went back home. The living room at the Potter's small house got suddenly quiet. James Potter's eyes widened as he glared to his wife, Lily. Her face was as pale as sheet, her small hands were clutching their one year old son, Harry. The kid was looking at his parents, confused.

They heard the sound of cracking branches. James stretched his neck to see by the window. A dark-cloaked man was approaching their front door. His hood turned impossible to see his face, but, unfortunetly, James knew who it was. He spoke the first thought that crossed his mind. "Bloody hell, Peter!"

Since third year, Lily knew she hadn't the "pulsing aura" needed to Divination classes. She couldn't "broaden her mind" or "open the Inner Eye to see the future. She gave up on the class by fourth year because she couldn't think of anymore tragical happenings to fill her school paper. But she didn't have to be a seer to understand why James cursed Peter. She got up and hugged her husband with an arm, the other still clutching Harry tightly.

The feeling of his wife's arms around him brought James back to reality. He turned his gaze at Lily's eyes. _Her beautiful, almond-shaped, emerald-green eyes..._ James thought. He couldn't think that it was probably the last time he was seeing that eyes. Words started spilling out of his mouth, urgently. So urgently he couldn't believe that it was him speaking.

"Lily, take Harry and run. It's him. You'll be alright. Take Harry and run. I love you." James' sentence ended almost like a whisper. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. It couldn't have been more clear the pain that she was over. It was written all over her face. She knew what would happen. Everybody knew. When Voldemort decided to kill, all her Gryffindor courage was enough.

"I love you too." Lily replied, her voice shaking. Harry was playing with her hair, not even noticing the change in the room's atmosphere. James released her hand, but she felt like they were still somehow connected. Not being able to see the pain in her husband's eyes, Lily clutched Harry with both arms and ran upstairs.

"Daddy!" Harry cried in his baby voice. James gaze drawed to his little son. The toddler was eyeing him confused. Harry wasn't used to see his dad like that.

"I love you too, my big boy." James' voice sounded almost like a whisper, his heart on his throat, feeling like his insides were cracking up. No. He couldn't break. He needed to stay whole to spare his family.

Just when Lily's feet reached the second floor, the front door burst open. James saw the snakelike face and the red eyes that were once hidden under his hood. James' grip on his wand tightened. He was not going to die without fighting. After all, he was an Auror, a Gryffindor and James Potter. He wouldn't give up just before the action.

"Oh, Potter," Voldemort spoke. "We met again. But don't get too happy. I'm not here for you, or your silly wife. How's the boy? Enjoying what's left for him? The litthe Ha..."

"STUPEFY!" James yelled.

With a wave of his wand, Voldemort swiftly blocked the spell.

"Oh, you're in hurry to die, aren't you? I was thinking of having a little fun before going to your son..."

"DON'T YOU DARE TO TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY!"

James and Voldemort started a rough battle, spells flying in every direction. Red jets passed across green ones, both wizards dueling with extraordinary ability. Cold sweat runned down James' forehead, for Voldemort's amusement.

"YOU - WON'T TOUCH - MY - FAMI-" James was interrupted bu a jet of green light hitting him square on the chest. He fell on his back, in the middle of he living room, dropping his wand. His hazel eyes, usually full of life, were glassy dead spheres. Voldemort's cold laugh filled the room.

Meanwhile upstairs, Lily was on the nursery, whispering to her little son on the crib.

"Harry, be safe. Mommy and daddy love you so much. Please, be safe. You are so much loved. Be safe. You-" Lily stopped suddenly at the sound of a soft thump, followed by a high and cold laugh. A single large tear escaped her closed eyelid, streaming down her face. Her husband... gone. Little Harry seemed aware of the seriousness of the moment, staring silently at his mother. None of them were aware of the golden aura surrounding them.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Lily's eyes opened suddenly when the doorknob exploded. The door opened swiftly, revealing Lord Voldemort, his hood unable to hide his wide, cruel grin. She quickly wrapped Harry in her arms, in a protective position.

"Oh, look at what we have here," Voldemort spoke with such loathing, he almost spit the words. "Mudblood and offspring."

Lily's face was covered in cold sweat. Her face bloomed in rage. Momentarily forgetting that she was a witch, the sudden urge to punch that pale face right in the nose... well, at least where the nose was supposed to be. But she took a deep breath. She was wandless, and her physical strenght was nothing compared with that repulsing, terrible spell. _Avada Kedavra._

Lily's mental battle earned Voldemort an amused grin. He started playing with his wand, as if it was such an ordinary moment. Three deaths today, a couple more tomorrow...

Lily needed to speak something. All the self-control needed to stay still was building a pressure in her throat, so strong that she needed to say something. If she couldn't kick his arse, the only option left was...

"Please, spare Harry. Leave him alone. He's just a baby boy. Have mercy. Kill me instead..."

"Stand aside, silly girl. I want only the boy."

"No way," she said before she could stop herself. "Please, I'm asking you. Kill me instead, leave Harry alone. Have mercy, please..."

"Stand aside, girl."

"...Spare him. Have mercy. Kill me instead..."

"If you insist, let's make it easier, shall we?" Voldemort flicked his wand in circular patterns. From the tip of it, a small bubble of electric green light started growing. Lily didn't recognize that magic, but from a couple of years of training, she had learned that green light rarely is a good sign. Especially coming from the wand of the darkest wizard of all times!

The green ball of light kept growing until it was about the size of a beach ball. The evil energy in the room was pulsing, so thick it was almost tangible. The ball concentrated between his hands. Predicting what was about to happen, Lily closed her tearful eyes, clutching Harry tightly.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled, an evil glint in his red eyes. The ball shot straight to Lily and all kind of thoughts flooded her head, like a very quick movie. She caught a glimpse of her mom, dad, she and Tuney laughing around a campfire, a pillow fight with Tuney, an afternoon by the lake with Severus, a huge gray owl flying towards her house, with a thick letter made of parchment tied on it's feet, a cozy afternoon reading a book in front of the fireplace at the Common Room, James smiling like a child, with small tears in his eyes on their wedding, the first time she held Harry... _This is it_, thought Lily. _We are all dead. _But she could still feel the pressure of her feet on the ground, Harry's breath against her throat. She could still feel her hands, one holding Harry's body, other holding his head. She could feel his raven black hair, so much like his dad's, against her fingers.

Lily tried to open her eyes. They opened at her command immediately, just like always, though her vision was blurry with tears. She blinked and the nursery came into focus. Her eyes widened at the sight. She and Harry were ingulfed in the green light ball, now the size of a refrigerator. The green energy was slowly changing it's color to a bright gold, with red sparkles dancing around. It was all she could see before the golden sphere moved, hitting square on Voldemort's puzzled face. She heared his scream, vanishing into fog, just lie his body. Then she felt an excruciating pain on her wrist, and all went black.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi guys!**

**I'm soooooo sorry! It's been what, two weeks? I need to organize better my writing schedule. This is my first fanfic ever, and I got so excited about this idea that you should be expecting the next chapters soon. I got so happy that you actually read it and liked it! It means so much for me! Unfortunately, school keeps me busy during the week, but I promise that, if you're kind and send reviews, I'll do my best to publish more than one chapter for week. Also, i think that I should let you know that English is not my mother language, so corrections, or any kind of help, are more than welcome. Thank you for reading!**

* * *

Lily woke up with a start. Her wide opened eyes stared at the corner of the nursery that was directly in front of her. The white rocking chair was broken on the floor, with the stuffed dog that used to be sitting on it spilling its stuffing all over the carpet. She suddenly remembered what happened in the other night. She couldn't help but started crying again. After a few minutes crying, she heared the sound of something brushing the carpet. Lily, still a bit dizzy and hes vision blurry with tears, turned her head and saw Harry, cuddling his face in his tiny hands, and emitting baby sounds. She would have focused on the cuteness of the moment, if there wasn't a scar on her son's forehead. She turned her body, so she was sitting on her heels, facing the small figure that had slept on the ground beside her. He opened his sleepy eyes, staring at his mom from the ground. He stretched one of his arms lazily, still half-sleeping. Lily quickly wiped the tears off her eyes with the back of her hand and placed carefuly one arm under Harry's ribs and other under his armpit. But before she could raise him, Harry put his small hand in her wrist. She had just realized that it had a scar on it just like Harry's.

She lifted Harry, intending to put him in a crib. There were some things that she needed to do even before breakfast. Harry's right side of the face was red and stripped from sleeping on the floor, and Lily realized that she was probably just like that. Suddenly she realized that one of the crib's legs was broken. She decided to let him on the floor just while she contacted some people. Harry struggled a bit, but after Lily's stern look, he stayed still. She was already with her hand in the stair rail when she noticed a wand lying on the floorboards next to the couch. James' wand. Next to it, she could see some pale fingertips...

Lily ran to her and James' bedroom, assured that she wouldn't be able to use the living room's fireplace. She reached for the small black box on the fireplace's borders. She opened it to find Floo Powder. She took a handful and poured it on the burning coals. Emerald green fire lit up.

"Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts."

She knelt down and put her head and felt that weird sensation, as if her facial muscles were sleeping. The emerald green glow started to clear and she saw the Headmaster's Office. It was a small circular room. The walls were covered with paintings of the previous headmasters and headmistresses. The bookshelves were crowded with all kinds of books you could imagine and the ones you can't imagine too. There was a wooden desk with delicate-looking silver instruments. Next to the desk was a cage with a beautiful red and gold phoenix. Behind the desk was a comfortable yet simple chair. Sitting there was none other but Albus Dumbledore, staring at the fireplace with his twinkling blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles, his kind smile that his long silvery beard couldn't hide. On the contrary, it seemed to increase his gentle smile. But it was clear the puzzled expression on his eyes.

"Lily! What a lovely surprise! How can I help you?" He beamed at her, standing up and getting closer to the fireplace. He lowered himself so he could have a good look at Lily's face. Noticing the serious look at her face, his expression darkened. "Has anything happened to any of you?"

Lily took a deep breath. "We were attacked last night. James..." she felt tears once more on her eyes. "He... got James. But he couldn't kill me or Harry. Magic like I'd never saw before."

"I think it's better if I come. Would you mind?"

"Not at all. But... would you mind coming through the bedroom fireplace instead on the living room one? James..." Lily couldn't finish the statement. Dumbledore nodded, he understood ever though she didn't finished her phrase.

Lily pulled her head out of the fireplace. She felt herself back at her and James' room. She stood up, and as she was about to leave, she heared Quaffle, James' owl hooting on it's cage. Lily walked toward the bird. She took one owl treat from the glass bowl on the table and handed it to the owl. She was already turning around when she had an idea. Lily took a spare piece of parchment and a quill and wrote a small note: _Come here. It's urgent. Lily._

"Give it to Sirius Black." She said, attaching the parchment on the owl's leg. Quaffle hooted happily and flew by the window, disappearing in the sky.

Lily went to the nursery, where Harry was playing with his plush snitch like nothing happened. She smiled, looking at her son. It was the person she loved the most in all the world. She wouldn't let him forget James. She would tell him about his adventures as a Marauder, Sirius could help on that, how he never studied and was always on the top of the class, how he was a superb wizard and even better dad and husband. Then she stared at the scar on his forehead. It was shaped like lightning, something she thought that Harry would like when he grew up a bit more. But why on the forehead? Couldn't it be in a place like his foot, or even on the wrist, like hers? Anybody who saw him would look directly to that funny-shaped scar and wonder what is it. Again... what was it?

Lily heard the characteristic floo sound, and quickly picked Harry up and went back to her room. She was surprised to see Sirius standing there, ashes on his shoes. He wore a grim expression, probably expecting the worse. His face lit up a bit when he saw Harry, his godson.

"Harry! How are you, my big boy?" Sirius exclamed, opening his arms.

"Sirus!" Harry said stretching his arms for Sirius to pick up him. After he did so, Lily felt like crying once more. The last thing James said to Harry was call him his big boy. Sirius stopped fuzzing over Harry when he noticed tears streaming down Lily's eyes. He stepped forward and gave her a brotherly hug, 'cause after all, he was the brother that she'd never had. He started patting her back, what surprisingly wasn't awkward. It was one of the few moments when that gesture worked.

"Lily - shh, it's gonna be allright. Listen, Lily, you'll be fine," he stroked her hair. She cried even harder.

"He... he's... gone..." Lily couldn't keep that. She was breaking down. And right in front of her son. She stood up properly, wiped the tears of her eyes. She looked up and stared at Sirius, surprised to find tears on his own eyes. Who would guess that Sirius Black would cry? But still, he just lost his best mate...

"I... I..." Sirius closed his eyes and gave a deep breath. It was not common for him to stumble with words. He was the talkative guy that always had a good answer to everything, never at loss of words, always confident and constantly talking. Even if he had just lost his best mate, he needed to stay strong for Lily, his best mate's widow, and Harry, his best mate's small son, who looked just like James. And he was Sirius' godson, of course.

They heared the floo sound once more, and this time it was Dumbledore, in his midnight blue robes, his expression unreadable, but he still managed to give a little smile to Lily, Sirius and Harry.

"Lily, my dear..." He stepped closer and gave her a hug. Albus Dumbledore, even though he was probably the greatest sorcerer alive and Hogwarts' Headmaster, he was always kind and gentle, ready to comfort anyone and to be stern when he needed to. James Potter wasn't the perfect student on his Hogwart's time. He was a brilliant young wizard, even if he never studied. An superb Quidditch player and one of the bravest man Dumbledore ever met. James matured a lot somewhere between sixth and seventh year, and Albus couldn't help but think that it was mostly because of Lily, the always well-behaved student, prefect and Head Girl. The tallented auror and after the loving mother and wife. Dumbledore felt her tears sliding through his robes. He even felt tears filling his own eyes, blurrying his vision as if he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"Lily, my dear, I know it's hard, but you need to calm down." Dumbledore pulled away and put a hand on her shoulder. Lily was still sobbing, but she forced herself to take a deep breath and wipe her tears with her free-Harry hand. Sirius just looked down.

"I know the impact that this loss is having in your life, but there are other things to worry about too. No one knows what happened to Voldemort. Imperius Curses are wearing off. Dementors are going back to Azkaban."

"So..." Sirius said, running his fingers through his hair, "Voldemort's... gone?"

An excitement feeling lit Lily's face. If, after all, he was gone...

"I wouldn't say so. I don't think he was human enough to just die. But I'll have to investigate all the magical process involved on the attack last night. Lily, I know you've been through a lot-"

"I'll help you." Lily quickly said, interrupting Dumbledore. A split second after she realised what she did, covering her mouth. "Oh... I'm sorry, Dumbledore. I interrupted you..."

"That's allright." Dumbledore smiled at her."And please, call me Albus. I'm not your Headmaster anymore. But thank you, and if you don't mind, I want to see a couple of things right now."

"Oh, of course. You shall start your investigation by now."


	3. Chapter 3

Dumbledore went downstairs to examine James' body. Lily agreed in letting him see James, but she didn't think she could face it. Each step he took echoed on the floorboards, breaking the mortal silence on the house. Lily couldn't help but follow Dumbledore's steps on her mind. She heard the sound repeating, each time lower, until it got muffled by the carpet on the first floor. He was there. Lily decided to distract herself cleaning Harry's scar. She opened the left drawer on Harry's wardrobe. There she kept his hygiene items, like medicines, diaper, handkerchiefs, this things. She took a pack of cotton balls and a cleaning spray and went off searching for Sirius and Harry. She found them in the play room, where Harry was putting all his teddy bears in a line, with Sirius' help. When Harry saw her, he gave a toothy grin. Lily smiled at him, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. It was hard smiling, even at Harry. She crouched by his side and poured a bit of an antiseptic solution on a cotton ball. Sirius raised his eyebrows at her. In school, she was the best at healing spells. She could heal deep cuts, mend broken bones, and even control infections with the long and hard spells, followed by very complicated wand movements. But when Lily was nervous, she forgot that she could perform a cleaning charm with a simple flick of her wand.

"Just... let me do it... properly." Lily told Sirius, brushing Harry's fringe to the side to see better the wound. It was a rather big scar, curiously shaped like lightning. The skin around it was a bit pink, but she could tell that it wasn't infectioned, or something like this. She could also tell that it wasn't hurting Harry, even because he was acting normally. And also, her scar wasn't hurting, and it was just like his. The scar hasn't bleed. There was no dried blood in it. Lily brushed carefully the cotton ball a few times in the scar. When she finished, she got straight up to put away the cleaning stuff when Dumbledore came in. Harry immediately reached for Lily. After all the time Dumbledore has been around him, he still wasn't used to him. Lily suspected that Harry only let Albus hold him because he was interested on his long silvery beard.

"Well, it wasn't a very complicated investigation. He was killed by the Killing Curse, there's no sign of any other dark magic. I can tell that he wasn't tortured either. But James sure battled before he died. We can know this by the _Priori Incantatem_ that I casted on his wand and by his bravery, of course. I hope I'm not being too indelicate, but Lily, can you describe the kind of magic that he used on you and Harry?" Dumbledore asked carefully.

Lily shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"Well... I'm not sure what exactly was that. The green light looked like a Killing Curse is described in the books, but- Harry, stop- "Lily stopped to take Harry's hands off her earrings. "It was just different."

"How different?" Dumbledore asked in a kind voice.

"So... He didn't... oh, how can I say it... _shoot_ the spell. He moved his wand on circular patterns, and this green light ball started growing. Then it stopped at the size of a beach ball. He screamed _Avada Kedavra_ and the ball engulfed me and Harry, who I picked up when he entered the nursery." Lily looked at Dumbledore, whose emotions were hard to read at the moment, but he seemed to be capting every single word she was saying, paying attention as hard as anyone could. She continued, "Voldemort's green energy ball started spinning on it's own pivot, slowly turning to a bright gold color. Even Voldemort looked confused at this." She added with a small smile. "Then, the ball got off us and hit him square on his chest." Lily brushed her hair off her forehead with her free hand. "I don't quite remember the last part, at least not very well... I heared Voldemort screaming, I felt an excruciating pain on my wrist, and I think I fainted. Today I woke up on the nursery's floor with a lightning-shaped scar, as so did Harry."

Dumbledore thought a bit for a moment, tangling his beard on his index fingers and pacing around the room.l After a while, he turned to Lily and fixed his eyes on the small boy with her. Harry was playing with his mother's hair and didn't even notice Dumbledore staring at him.

"May I see your scars?"

"Of course! Here-"

She brushed Harry's fringe out of his forehead, showing the horrible scar, then she pulled up her left sleeve and extended her arm to Dumbledore. He ran his fingers over it, casted a few spells and just stared at the scars for a while.

"Hm... very interesting..." Dumbledore hummed.

"What is very interesting?" Sirius cut off.

Dumbledore looked up at the three other people in the room.

"I believe Lily and Harry survived the Killing Curse," he waited for his words to sink. Lily opened her mouth to argue, but Dumbledore wouldn't let her. "This kind of scars... you only get them when hit by a really powerful curse. You said the light was that characteristic green..."

None of them would subject, so Dumbledore continued.

"This scar won't bother you, it's just... a mark." He finally said. "As for your secret keeper..." he shot a glare at Sirius.

"It was not him!" Lily shrieked, before anything could happen to Sirius. This matter stopped making her sad, just to start making her angry. "We changed... it was Peter."

Dunbledore's face relaxed, even if just a bit.

"You should've warned me. If you had died, Sirius would've gone to Azkaban." Dumbledore was clearly trying not to yell, and it shocked Lily a bit. Dumbledore was known for his self-control.

"We did it two days ago. We tried to talk to you by Floo Network, but they said you were travelling, or something."

"That's right," he calmed himself pacing around the room. "Lily," he called, "I'm just taking guesses. We'll need more exams to prove that you and your son survived the Killing Curse. You can do this at St. Mungo's. But for now, we shall calm down. This situation will demand an immediate reunion of the Order. Sirius," he turned to him, "tell everybody. I want them at the Headquarters by midnight."

Sirius apparated with a _pop_.

"Lily, I want you to understand something." He glared at the young redhead. "It's not safe for you _or Harry_," he added looking at the toddler entertaining himself with the hem of his shirt, "to stay here longer."

Lily opened her mouth to ask all the questions on her mind, but closed it quickly. She realised that even with Voldemort gone, there would he thousands of Death Eaters more than willing to avenge their master's death. She decided to choose her words better.

"Where are we going to go?"

"I can't offer you a space at Hogwarts, I'm sorry. But let's see tonight if someone's willing to shelter you and Harry for a while. Just for the time we catch the Death Eaters. " Dumbledore said in a low voice.

The old wizard clearly wasn't emotionally stable at the moment, what was what really pissed Lily off. After all, Dumbledore was an example - no, _the_ example - for the wizard folk. He would get angry, sad, happy... but not unstable.

Breaking the uncomfortable silence, Lily suggested, "So I'd better pack some things untill the night, right?"

Dumbledore nodded with his head, "Yes, yes. You better move as soon as possible. Someone in the order will sure shelter you."

_Right. Someone will sure exposure his family to Death Eaters just to protect an acquintance_, Lily thought.

But she started packing anyway. As she took a huge suitcase from the bottom of her bed, Dumbledore shot some temporary spells around the house, so they'd be safe until midnight. Most of her suitcase was full of Harry's stuff: clothes, toys, diapers, medicine, and his hygiene items. But she added an armful of her clothes too, her bathroom items and some jewelry. All their money was at Gringotts, but the few Galleons that were at home, she dropped at the suitcase. At the end , she find out that she wouldn't close the bag alone. Lily thought of calling Dumbledore, but she spotter a black-haired little boy on the carpet that would do.

"Come on, Harry," she picked him up, depositing him in the closed suitcase. "I'll need some help, right?" She tickled his stomach, making him giggle. "I want you to jump, okay?" Harry started bouncing up and down, and eventually Lily closed the bag.

As gracefully as she could, she took Harry with one hand and dragged the suitcase to the spot next to the fireplace.. She adjusted her grip on Harry to find Dumbledore entering the room.

"Lily, I've got to go back to Hogwarts now. The house is protected until midnight, but keep your wand close, just in case." He ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm waiting for both of you tonight. Bring your suitcase, we'll find somewhere for you to stay, alright?" With a last smile, he stepped into the fireplace, dissolving into the green flames.

**A/N: OHMYGOD! I made you wait far too much for this ridiculous chapter! I'm so sorry! But now that I've done my final exams, I promise you that I'll update soon. Also, I just remembered of a yellow notebook where I wrote HP1 from Hermione's POV last summer. I'll post the first chapter to see if you like it. And if you liked this story, please review! Your reviews make me smile so much! :)**

_Imperio! You'll send me a review right now._

**lovely-psychosis**


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day went out surprisingly fast for Lily and Harry. She was glad that someone - she didn't know whether Dumbledore or Sirius - removed James' body from the living room. Most of their time was spent doing a more detailed inspection of their belongings, activity that involved taking the photos out of the frames and keeping them in an old album Lily found behind a shelf, revising more carefully Harry's toys and clothes, filling another suitcase. Around 4 p.m. Lily found herself baking chocolate chip cookies. They had plenty of food at home, and Lily didn't think she could eat much after the previous night, but it was a habit that she had since she was a little kid. When she got hurt while playing, got a bad grade (almost never) or even on her first love disaster when she was fifteen, her mom, Rose Evans, used to tell her that everything would be alright, braiding her hair. After, they'd bake cookies and make tea watching two or three Doctor Who seasons that her dad had recorded. First Lily used to do this with James, usually when a friend was killed by Death Eaters. It all started when James' parents died on an auror mission. She baked the cookies with silent tears falling down her cheeks. When her own parents were assassinated, she was surprised by James entering their bedroom with a tray of cookies and two steaming mugs. Cookies were served in daily basis when she was pregnant. It was one of her most common cravings, so James always had some cookie dough on the freezer.

Once, when Harry was nine months old, Lily couldn't get to make him fall asleep. He had woken up at three a.m. and was refusing to get back to bed. The second James entered the nursery holding a plate of cookies, the idea seemed crazy. Why would you feed a child that refused to sleep with sugar? But it turned out that Harry really liked the cookies. They had just been taken out of the oven, and they were the perfect temperature. Harry didn't have trouble chewing, even if he had just a couple of teeth. The cookies were awesome. In five minutes, Harry was snoring. And James swore he didn't filled the cookies with any kind of sleeping draught.

James. All came back to him. All her thoughts actions, ever Harry. Every time she looked at her, - no,_ their_ - son, even if unconsciously, he linked Harry with James. She remembered how she used to hate him, but in their last two years at Hogwarts they became friends. She remembered how he used to calm her when the exams were next, how he'd teach her wizard's chess in the Head's common room, how he'd help her "choosing" her outfits for school...

(... "No, you should totally wear _this_ tie. It fits you better." James rolled the tie like a ball and threw it at Lily, that was trying hard to keep a straight face.

"I still think _this_ one", she lifted an identical Gryffindor tie, waving it in the air like a flag, "would complement my robes the best."

James made an exagerated surprised face. "The robes! We haven't even started on those!" He threw himself on the couch, resting his head on Lily's lap. "You know, there are _so_ many options..." James took the book lying on the couch's arm and dropped it on the floor.

"Hey! It's from the library!" Lily played with his hair. She used to think James made it messy to look "cool", or something, but she eventually discovered that there really was no way of taming it - even Marlene's Straight Strands Spell wouldn't work.

"Nothing you couldn't fix with a couple of spells. And," he straightened a bit, resting his neck on the couch's arm, but still kind of "sitting" on Lily, "who cares about Madam Pince's lectures?" He kissed the tip of her nose and sit straight by her side, automatically putting his arm around her shoulders.

She released a sigh. "James...", he looked down at her piercing green eyes. "What do you think will happen when we leave Hogwarts?"

They were in the middle of a war. The Grounds felt like a dream. But once they graduated, they would have to face real life, and they were sure it much worse that the Daily Prophet showed. James didn't need to ask in what aspect she was talking about to know that she meant the war, but the pressure building everywhere was almost tangible, and he felt the need to break it.

"I don't know... marry you, if I'm lucky to have a 'yes'... ", James grinned down at Lily, whose shoulder muscles relaxed with the change of subject. She let out a small laugh. "Then, we could live in a small house, in a quiet place, somewhere good for children..."

"Children?" Lily asked.

"Oh, yes... I was thinking that we should have at least one, but if you don't want-" He was interrupted by her lips on his. When she pulled back, James smiled "what was that for?"

Lily smiled, "you have no idea how cute you sounded. I never thought you wanted children."

"Just imagine the scene... a six year old child with red hair and hazel eyes, or black hair and green eyes, do your favorite combination." James told Lily, tucking a strand of her hair back behind her ear. "In a beautiful Saturday morning, daddy James is teaching this kid how to ride a broom. And mom Lily is eating her fingers in worry." Lily laughed. He kept describing the scene untill both of them fell asleep right there, on the couch, his arms around her, her head resting on his shoulder, his own head resting on hers...")

Memories kept flooding Lily's mind as the day went by. Harry ate the cookies happily, but even he could feel that something was wrong. Perhaps he even knew what happened, since he didn't mention "daddy" the whole day. Lily always thought that Harry was smart for his age, but not in a level like this. He could read her moods and feelings very well, and even use it to choose the right moment to disturb, and he wasn't even one and a half years old.

Lily heated some soup for dinner, that both she and Harry ate quietly. Fifteen minutes before the start of the meeting, she put her face on the fireplace and contacted Sirius.

"Hey! Can you help me with my suitcases?"

He didn't think twice. "Sure, just a sec."

Lily removed her head from the fireplace, and in ten seconds Sirius was travelling to the Order Headquarters holding both of her suitcases. She looked at her bed, where Harry was sleeping soundly wrapped around a blue blanket. She smiled at the sight. Carefully, Lily took Harry and, wrapping her arms tightly around him, she stepped into the fireplace. She felt the floor swirl under her feet, and everything dissolving into dust. Green fireplaces glowed everywhere, but she approached a tiny one at the bottom. To Lily, the worst part was arriving; she closed her eyes to avoid the ash and dirt of the old fireplace, and put her hand protectively at Harry's face, but he wouldn't twitch; he was still fast asleep.

The Headquarters were really simple; just a wide room with a long table. The news that Voldemort was gone did spread faster than they imagined, and a lot of people didn't feel the need to come to another meeting. But, as Dumbledore said it was serious, almost all the Order was there. Some people smiled sympathetically at Lily, others just tapped her shoulder. Alice hugged her. With the Order, the two of them got really close. When she released Lily, Alice whispered, "we better sit down. It's about to start."

Lily smiled at her and watched as Alice went back to her husband, Frank, who was holding their son, Neville, who just as Harry, was fast asleep. She made her way to the seats she and James used to take. It felt like the empty chair beside hers was staring at her. Lily decided to focus her stare at the cute little boy snoring on her lap. Eventually Dumbledore got up. Everybody looked at him.

"Goodnight, everybody. It's good to see you all here." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, glancing at everybody at the room. "First, I'd like to welcome two new members of the Order. Everybody here, this are Arthur and Molly Weasley. We already checked and they're perfectly safe." Dumbledore smiled at the couple of redheads feeling a bit uncomfortable in the corner of the table.

"But why will we keep on with the Order now?" Daedalus Diggle asked from the other side of the table

"Mr. Diggle, I don't believe that Voldemort's gone," people started murmuring around the table, but Dumbledore cleared his throat, "and even thought he's 'gone', we still have the Death Eaters." This made him stop.

"A lot of Death Eaters are more than willing to avenge their Master's death. That's why all of us need to be cautious until all of them are back in Azkaban. I believe you all have an idea of what happened with the Potters last night." Everybody looked at Lily and Harry and nodded. "We had a spy here. Peter Pettigrew. He sold Lily and James to Voldemort, who last night tried to kill the Potters. He tried to kill Lily and Harry as well, but he couldn't. The reason is still unknown." People stared at him, waiting for he to go on. But Dumbledore simply sat down and took a sip of water. "The thing is, that more than anyone, the Death Eaters will want to get Lily and Harry. I don't think I need to say why, since I just explained it. They need shelter for a while, just enough time for us to capture the Death Eaters. I need volunteers."

At first, everyone was silent. Then, someone raised a shaky hand. "Dumbledore, we'd be happy to have Lily and Harry at home for a while," he said with a tiny voice.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the end! It just felt like the right place to finish the chapter. And, with an ending like this, it should make me update faster :)**

**This chapter took me a week to write, and I tried to do it fast because I recieved some lovely reviews that made me smile so much. This chapter is like a "thank you". Friday was a particular hard day, and your reviews helped me a lot :)**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH! Oh, and I hope you review this one too. Where do you think Lily and Harry are going to stay? I want to know what you think.**

**Love always,**

**lovely-psychosis**


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